As a practitioner, I bridged the gap between the client’s goals, our internal team and looking holistically at the project budget, helping each understand the other's perspective. Drawing on my experience as a manager, I integrate communication and visuals to lead change throughout the organization. By maintaining a firm-wide view, I support Olson Kundig’s talented team and help execute the leadership’s vision.

Marlene Chen

Principal / Owner, COO | AIA, LEED AP

Principal/Owner Marlene Chen is a natural translator. In her role as COO at Olson Kundig, Marlene uses her experience as an architect and project manager to steer the firm’s governance and operations groups—working as a conduit between business units and practitioners to help communicate and enact organizational changes across an evolving firm.

Since joining Olson Kundig in 2005, Marlene has worked on numerous cultural and institutional projects featuring architecture and exhibit design scopes, in design and project management capacities, helping clients large and small express their missions in built form—from large organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Tillamook and Microsoft, to private residential and commercial clients. In all her leadership roles, as in her design work, Marlene is committed to contributing to something greater than herself, embracing a holistic view of the firm’s initiatives and investments.

Born and raised in Seattle, Marlene traveled to the east coast to attend Wellesley College and study at Columbia University’s “Shape of Two Cities: New York/Paris” program. Upon returning to Seattle to attend the University of Washington for her Master of Architecture, she studied abroad in Sydney, Australia at the University of New South Wales for additional studies.

Projects

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